2015 trip reports (1 Viewer)

Hi, I visited Togabo and Trinidad in July, on an independent tour. Here are links to my trip reports

http://www.bongariliitto.fi/files/7296/Tobago_July_2015_Hottola_P.pdf

http://www.bongariliitto.fi/files/7297/Trinidad_July_August_2015_Hottola_P.pdf

Sorry, I could not be more positive about Asa Wright. Well, they effectively decimated all my birding plans there. The rest of Trinidad and especially Tobago were great, though!

Petri,
thanks for sharing. I would like to point out that the policy regarding walk in visitors at Asa Wright is nothing new. It was the same first time I visited 10 years ago. I am not sure where you got your information, but I have seen this described online in a number of places. For someone staying there, the low number of guest on the trails is a plus.

Niels

There apparently has been some variation in the treatment of day visitors, for various reasons. Some have been able to talk themselves in (sometimes with the support of a Asa Wright business partner, whose services they have already used), to be able to walk the trails, also in 2015. The same has applied to the visits in the Oilbird cave.

The policy has, however, become increasingly strict during the past few years, according to the reports I have read and according to the people I met in Tobago and Trinidad. There is also the plan to stop visiting the cave altogether, because Internet camera views are thought to be sufficient for the clients Asa Wright prefers.

Moreover, there has been confusion in the published reports: Some claim that the trails cannot be independently visited at all, while others state this to be completely false information and claim that Asa Wright in fact encourages independent exploration. The reports usually fail to make a distinction between day visitors and those who stay in the resort. The first are severely restricted whereas the lodgers have more freedom of movement, for a price.

Considering the low number of international birding visitors in Trinidad, independent visitors in particular, their complete exclusion probably is not a sound choice for a business like Asa Wright. On the other hand, they may do as they wish, privatizing the local natural heritage for the wealthiest elites.